037. Going One Level Higher(5)

"What if I give up the shooting angle so easily? "The director even told me to be careful."

"It was so fast in just a few moments…"

"Aren't you going to get hit because you don't come to your senses? "If that's the case, why did you train?"

As Hoyoung's mid-range shot led to the first goal, the Gremio players became busy as if their feet were on fire.

In particular, the team's captain, Alexandre Becker, was shouting loudly.

The American-Brazilian is 15 years old and his position is a side defender.

"Raise the line and apply pressure. Eduardo! "You come down to the second line and catch the ball!"

Alexander raised his arms above his head and flicked his wrists.

It was a signal to the players.

A signal to use the playing field narrowly and not give the opponent an opportunity to attack.

'Even if you open the sides, the shooting angle must be narrowed as much as possible. 'He's a mid-distance shooter.'

Woo Ho-young.

The league has only just begun, but quite a bit of information about it has been gathered.

A player who excels at mid-range shooting with explosive breakthrough ability.

Since his soccer career was short, his basic skills could have been poor, but the opposite was true.

Moreover, he is an all-rounder who has recently moved down to the second line and directly coordinates the offense and defense of the midfield.

That was the opinion of the coaches regarding Hoyoung.

Alexander also fully sympathized with him.

Because his mid-range shot just now was very threatening.

However, it was completely unacceptable that his teammates gave up shooting angles to Hoyoung.

'It's because I'm not concentrating on the game.'

Alexander's gaze turned forward.

He stared at the back of Hoyoung's head with burning eyes.

'I'm really excited.'

Woo Ho-young was shaking his shoulders and making a strange ceremony, wondering what was so good about it.

It was worth it as it was his debut goal and first goal of the season.

But I hated seeing it so bad.

'Any more goals will be prevented. If he shoots a mid-range shot, we just have to take the space.'

Afterwards, Gremio played tight, swampy football with Alexander at the center.

He got on the nerves of the opposing players and did his best to prevent them from playing properly.

Two people, three people each.

As soon as Woo Ho-young or Oscar caught the ball, they would rush in and narrow down the space.

Literally frustrating soccer.

Although it may have seemed boring to the audience, it was the best decision for Gremio.

'If we don't do this, we'll just end up conceding a lot of goals. As the coach said, we have to lead the team to the minimum number of goals conceded until the second half.'

If you make one successful counterattack, you will be able to achieve a draw.

Soccer is essentially that kind of game.

One side has to make 100 effective shots to maintain control throughout the game, but if they can't score a goal, those numbers are meaningless.

On the other hand, if even one effective shot results in a goal, it is a winner.

That is practical soccer.

'Okay, if it goes on like this…'

Just as the possibility began to appear faintly, Hoyoung showed an unusual movement.

"…!"

Hoyoung moved down to the second line and snatched the ball from attacker Eduardo with a surprise tackle.

Then, they exchanged one-two passes and broke through to the left side.

"stick!"

At the same time, a defensive midfielder who was sticking to the area clung to him.

Same goes for Alexander.

"Where!"

He approached Hoyoung and protected the space on the side.

"Focus!"

He squealed and put pressure on Hoyoung roughly.

It soon escalated into a two-on-one fight and created a scene that raised eyebrows.

Beep!

Messy checks lead to anger.

The referee rushed over and declared a foul on Gremio.

"You pay attention to number 4."

"yes."

Fortunately, the referee ended with a warning.

'It's actually a benefit.'

If Hoyoung had been allowed to break through, they would have been in danger of conceding a goal.

Moreover, the free kick spot was not a very threatening area.

About 36 meters.

It was close to the left touchline.

'You can never shoot directly.'

It was an angle that only Beckham, Juninho, or free kick god Zico could enter.

Therefore, Alexander could rest assured.

Moreover, he was a player who showed strength in the box.

Thanks to his good prediction ability, he was good at handling aerial balls.

'I'm confident in my set plays.'

He looked confident and took charge of marking Hoyoung, who was positioned on the other side of the post.

Even before the ball flew, he fought with his shoulder and got nervous.

This is because positioning directly determines the outcome of an aerial competition.

however.

"…?"

Alexander's brows narrowed.

Hoyoung's physical strength was never easy.

'It's pretty hard?'

Still, I thought this was worth it.

But that idea soon changed.

'crazy…!'

He was forced into a physical fight and gave up his seat to Woo Ho-young, who was slightly smaller than him.

To make matters worse, a cross came exactly one second later.

Cough!

Oscar, who took the free kick, kicked with all his might towards the opposite post.

"this…!"

Even after giving up his position, Alexander did not give up until the end.

I jumped up at the same time, thinking that I should at least interfere with the header.

However, Hoyoung was not only physically good.

"…!!"

Heading skills are also above par.

At the correct timing, Hoyoung tilted his head and the ball hit the floor and entered the goal.

"Oooooh!"

Second score!

Sao Paulo FC players burst into cheers and rushed towards Hoyoung.

"crazy!"

Alexander, who was completely defeated, ended up swearing.

I was devastated.

You have good foot skills, but you also have physical ability and heading skills?

"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

I grumbled inside.

The world is unfair.

Hoyoung Woo's second goal was as meaningful as his first goal.

This is because it was the first headed goal scored in Brazil.

That's why Carlos shook his head.

No matter how much he discovered and polished the gemstone, he had no idea that it had that much potential.

The chicken flesh that protruded from the thick skin did not go down easily.

'When did your heading skills improve so much?'

Of course, I already knew during training that Hoyoung's heading skills were decent.

That's why Hoyoung was placed in front of the goal in a set-piece situation.

But I didn't expect to see results right away in my debut match.

'It's a headed goal at that height…'

There's no rule that says you can't head a goal just because you're short.

Brazil's Romario, who claimed to have scored 1,000 goals, was able to score a headed goal despite his short stature.

But that was possible because it was Romario.

Romario is often said to have the 'devil's talent'.

"haha. "Does he have that much talent?"

Eat.

Even thinking about it to myself, I snorted as if it was funny.

'I can't believe I'm comparing Romario with an Asian kid.'

Carlos smiled and turned his gaze to General Manager Victor, who was sitting in the stands.

"You should prepare a reward."

Victor grinned at those words.

The first half ended with a one-sided victory for Sao Paulo FC, 2-0.

That time.

Unlike the home team, which had a party atmosphere, the away team's locker room was literally like a funeral home.

In order to have a successful opening match, I trained hard and sweated despite the bad weather, but seeing the results like this is bound to dampen my motivation.

Gremio's players couldn't keep quiet about the game.

All I could do was keep an eye on coach Carvalho, who was angry to the core.

"I'm going crazy."

Carvalho's blood pressure kept rising as he thought about Hoyoung's crazy activities.

I watched videos of him playing, but I had no idea he would do this well in the U15 league.

'I didn't know you had physical fighting or heading skills.'

Total crisis.

Just stopping Oscar was too much, but with Woo Ho-young also going on a rampage, there was really no answer.

In fact, in youth games, the game often depends on one player.

Carvalho was also a veteran, so it's not like he didn't have that experience.

In particular, there was a nightmare when they gave up six goals against Adriano about 10 years ago.

The impact that Hoyoung showed right away was at the level below that.

'Does that make sense? 'You're Asian, right?'

There was no precedent for an Asian to dominate the Brazilian league.

'Damn it.'

Measures had to be taken.

Even if it was a draw, we had to avoid conceding a large number of goals.

Carvalho said.

"We will significantly increase the number of defenders and convert the four-back line to man-to-man defense."

In the end, I had no choice but to come up with that method.

If we continue to stick to zone defense, the same situation will repeat itself.

If the space could not be blocked, the player had to be caught.

"Alexander."

"Yes…."

"You grabbed Woo Ho-young and bit on him persistently. Even if you have to leave your spot, follow me until the end. Same goes for the rest. That's your mission today. To prevent the ball from going to Woo Ho-young. "Tightly block the space to infiltrate and completely block the route of escape."

At the same time, he instructed Woo Ho-young to follow him like a shadow.

It was the best instruction I could give as a director.

Beep!

The second half soon began.

Gremio came out with a new defensive tactic.

'Woo Ho-young. I will chase you to the ends of the earth.'

Alexander was robbed, but he went into the game with his mentality as a captain.

If you play man-to-man defense, you will be weak in space penetration, but you will be able to make up for it by significantly increasing your defense numbers.

I thought that defense would be easier than before, even if it meant losing a cow and having to fix the barn every other day.

but.

"Ah…"

Alexander sighed three minutes into the game.

This is because Woo Ho-young, who should have been in the first line, was in the second line, and Oscar, who should be in the second line, was below him.

As Gremio modified his tactics, Sao Paulo FC also prepared their tactics accordingly.

"Shit!"

The problem did not end with just the two of them.

The quick-footed Douglas Costa came on as a substitute and took over as left striker.

Because of this, Gremio's defense was often confused.

Sao Paulo did not miss the opportunity.

Oscar backed up Hoyoung's playmaking and opened up an offensive path for Hoyoung.

Invisible holes began to appear one after another in various places.

Taking advantage of that gap, Hoyoung attempted to infiltrate the first line.

Alexander panicked and tried to block it, but ended up allowing Hoyoung to invade the space.

Slosh!

In vain, it was a breakthrough that led to Hoyoung's third goal.

"Huh!"

While Hoyoung was showing the ceremony, Alexander's cheeks turned red.

"Ha… Mr…. I wonder if there is such a thing as this."

It was absurd.

And then I realized.

Why was it impossible to stop Woo Ho-young in the first half?

There was only one reason.

Differences in talent.

"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it."

I wanted to go back 80 minutes and punish myself for belittling Hoyoung.

I've never found soccer this difficult in my life, but for the first time in my life, I felt like I didn't want to play soccer.

On the other hand, Hoyoung, who came out after the game, was a completely different person.

Was soccer this easy?

It was such an easy game that I thought it would be weird.

You achieved a hat trick even before your debut.

There was literally no fish out of water.

I enjoyed it and did it.

Both teams prepared, but it was Sao Paulo FC that showed everything they had prepared.

Victory is also theirs.

It was a 6-0 victory for Sao Paulo FC.

The reward was given immediately.

[Choose the talent you want to pursue.]

– Formal volley kick (C+)

'21 with this.'

Increasing talent.

It was fun building it up one by one.

And no matter how useless my talent was, it seemed like it would be of great help someday.

If there are reinforcements and promotions, there must be other things as well.

I was even more excited about the future.

'Oscar's talent will soon be brought home.'

If they win two more league games, they will be able to show off Oscar's talent.

'Big!'

The game was over, but passion was still burning brightly.

Also, what kind of talent will I gain and what kind of soccer experience will I have in the future?

I returned to the locker room with my teammates with excitement.

It was right then.

"hmm?"

Each player who entered the locker room was showing doubts.

Because an old gentleman was standing inside.

'I've seen this before many times…'

The person looked familiar to Hoyoung.

'I think I saw it at the Bahafunda training ground… Are you a team official?'

As my curiosity grew, the old man parted his lips.

"It's a huge 6-0 win. LOL. I guess we should give our players a small reward."

He was an old man with an impressive mischievous smile.